Weapon's In Hand
by Guardian's Blade
Summary: Faced with another rejection by Sakura, Naruto decides to blow off some steam training. He soon discovers that even the worst moments can have a silver lining. (NaruTen) (Former Oneshot) Now a story! (Takes place 6 months after war. Sasuke still in village. Naruto: THE LAST and everything after is noncanon!)
1. Chapter 1

Weapon's In Hand

PRE-AUTHOR'S NOTES

This story takes place after the Last Great Ninja War and basically everything happens the way it should. The only real changes is this takes place about 6 months after the war, Sasuke is still in the village but heavily restricted and watched. Naruto is basically ignoring Hinata's love confession (as what actually happens until "The Last" Movie), and this story officially has more TenTen than 2/3 of the original series (Come on, you know it's true).

I tried to make the character's as in character as possible however, some OOCness may be present.

That's basically it. I hope you enjoy the story!

END PRE-AUTHOR'S NOTES

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, NARUTO SHIPPUDEN NOR ANY OF IT"S SPINOFFS, GAMES, MOVIES, OR CHARACTERS. EVERYTHING IS OWNED BY KISHIMOTO. I CLAIM NOTHING!

"Hey Sakura-chan, want to grab some ramen with me?" Naruto excitingly asked the pink haired Kunoichi as she made her way to the hospital.

"Sorry Naurto, but I can't today." Sakura easily replied as she continued walking only for him to follow behind her.

"But why not?" Naruto questioned undeterred as he moved in front of her, forcing her to stop and look at his smiling face. "Your shift ends at 8pm right? Ichiraku doesn't close till midnight, and you'll be starving."

"Well I-I have something planned for today." Sakura said as she looked to the side, her face beginning to turn red.

"Like what." Naruto continued to question, instantly picking up on her nervousness but not really registering its meaning.

"Well," Sakura began as her hands subconsciously started playing with each other. "Sasuke-kun's been acting strange lately. I think he's going to ask me out today." She said as her face turned a deeper shade of red.

"Oh." Naruto said, his face finally losing his trade mark grin. "I-I see."

Naruto's sudden change in demeanor quickly snapped Sakura out of her thoughts as she turned her head back to Naruto and smiled. "It's not that I don't want to hang out with you Naruto." Sakura quickly affirmed. "It's just that. Well I've been waiting so long for Sasuke-kun to come back to the village and now that he's finally here I-." Sakura let the sentence drop as she lowered her head in an almost sad smile.

"Yeah. I understand." Naruto sadly replied with lowered eyes only to quickly jump back with smile. "Why don't we try again next week? We can even bring the Teme along, after being on the run for 3 years and only just getting out of jail I bet he's forgotten what good food taste like."

"He'd like that." Sakura agreed as she once again looked up at the blond. "I'll check my schedule and get to with you on a good day to go."

"Sounds great." Naruto said with a smile as he turned around and gave a backwards wave. "See you then Sakura-Chan."

Naruto hadn't even taken 3 steps from Sakura before he felt two slender yet toned arms wrap around his waist and a head buried into his back.

"S-sakura?" Naruto asked in shock.

"Thank you, Naruto, for everything, you brought him back like you promised. I always knew you would." Sakura softtly said, as she held the hug for a few more seconds before finally releasing him and allowing him to turn back around. "I just…He's lucky to have a friend like you, we both are." She said with a big smile and he could've sworn he could see small amounts of water around her eyes.

"Y-yeah Sakura-chan, don't mention it." Naruto replied with a small smile. "You would've done the same for me."

As Naruto turned and walked away from Sakura, he silently thanked kami for her distraction. He knew that if her likely thoughts of Sasuke, Team Seven, and everything else hadn't distracted her, she would've seen through his fake smile the moment he dared put it on.

3 hours later

 **Training Ground 10, Forest area.**

" **Don't you think your taking this too far**." Kurama asked as Naruto rushed through his personally created obstacle course. " **I can heal your body from these cuts all day long, but that still doesn't make it alright**."

"I'm fine." Naruto re-affirmed for the half dozen time since they started, as he quickly moved to dodge the several dozen kunai and shuriken that began raining down from all directions.

He had created several dozen shadow clones and had them hide in a narrow part of the forest. Their orders were to throw any weapons they had, or could get their hands on, at him when he tried to go through the path. This allowed him to keep his reflexes up in lieu of sparing, or at least that's what he liked to think as on a normal day he'd be able to go several hours without so much as getting a scratch from the thrown weapons. This was partly due to the skills he had acquired over the years and partly because he knew how his clones would attack as they were all based off himself; however, with everyone else he could think of sparring with either busy with missions, life, or restricted this was the best he could hope for right now.

That being said this obviously wasn't a normal day as evidenced by the tears and dried blood on his shirt where kunai had made several shallow cuts and subsequently healed by Kurama.

As Naruto masterfully weaved through the barrage of weapons he made sure none came to close to striking him, he had gotten with 10 feet of finishing the course when it happened.

As he took another step toward the end his mind suddenly wandered and his mind flashed back to the conversation he'd had with Sakura earlier that day.

Flashback

" _Thank you, Naruto, for everything, you brought him back like you promised. I always knew you would."_

End Flashback

" **Kid**!" Kurama roared within him as Naruto snapped out of his daydream too late to stop the kunai flying towards his chest.

Thinking quickly, he lunged to the left and felt the cool metal puncture his right arm as a result. His eyes widened as he registered the pain before his body landed heavily on the ground. Muffling a curse, he made sign to dispel his clones who had ceased their barrage once he'd been struck and remained on the ground for only another moment before getting up and ripping the kunai out.

"Arg!" Naruto shouted as he ripped out the weapon and examined his profusely bleeding wound. "How bad is it?"

" **It's a deep puncture**." Kurama responded. " **It'll take a few minutes to heal**."

"Good." Naruto said as he made his way to one of the taller trees and sat in the shade.

" **What the hell was that about anyway**?" Kurama asked as he took to work healing the wound. " **You've been screwing up all day, but that kunai almost hit your heart and it only missed the artery in shoulder by a few inches**."

"I just lost focus is all." Naruto numbly responded, his previous conversation with Sakura now back to replaying in his mind since the danger had passed.

" **It's more than that brat**." Kurama grumbled. " **And until you start telling me what's going on this is the last wound I'm healing**."

"What do mean this is the last wound your healing" Naruto said in disbelief. "What happened to being able to heal my wounds all day long?"

" **I said I could brat not that I would**." Kurama replied. " **Besides we might be friends now but I'm not your personal medic ninja, if you want someone to continuously heal your wounds then go talk to that pink haired girl; she actually seems to enjoy it!** ".

Naruto's retort died in his throat at the mention of Sakura as he lowered his gaze to the ground. He quietly stayed in this position of sitting against the tree with his left arm on top of his bent left knee. His right arm remained at his side as the wound slowly healed from Kurama's power and his right leg laid flat against the ground.

" **So that's what this is all about**." Kurama finally said after several moments of silence passed, Naruto's silence instantly confirming the fox's suspicion. " **I should have known, that girl's always involved in your stupid stunts one way or another**."

"I should be happy." Naruto responded in a smaller tone than the fox was used to hearing from the boisterous blond. "The teme's back, the village is safe, and Sakura-chan's happy again. Everything is just like I've always wanted it to be."

" **Except for the girl**." Kurama replied. " **You've been chasing her since I can remember."**

Naruto shook his head as a sad smile graced his lips. "I knew that she'd go for Sasuke the moment he came back. I tried everything I could think of to make her like me, but in the end I guess the Teme had me beat from the start."

" **So go for another girl**." Kurama replied as he silently wondered how he went from fearsome 9 tailed demon of destruction and chaos to a teenager's relationship advisor. **"I've seen the girls following you around since the war, just take one of them and be done with it.** "

"There's no other girl like Sakura-Chan." Naruto replied sadly.

" **And what's that supposed to mean**." Kurama asked in slight annoyance. " **You have half the women in this village and likely the other villages as well vying for you, one of them is bound to be like that girl. Hell, what about that pale eyed girl, she had a thing for you right**?"

"Hinata-chan's nice and I do care for her, but not the same way I do for Sakura-Chan." Naruto replied. "They just can't compare with each other."

" **There both women right**?" Kurama asked, his annoyance more apparent. " **What makes this pink haired girl anyway? What makes her different that the rest**?"

"Sakura-Chans..." Naruto mused as he lifted his head in deep though while watching the sunlight glisten through the leaves. "She's strong and determined, even when we were kids she never stayed down long. Her eyes hold a certain strength to them yet are filled with compassion which makes them even more beautiful, and even though she may knock people around or occasionally destroy something you can tell that she deeply cares about everyone. She has the will to never give up or back down from anything, and an infectious smile that…"

" **Ok, ok I get it**." Kurama interrupted. " **At least try to find someone else instead of moping around like a fool. If you keep screwing around like this you're going to end up getting us both killed and I didn't survive Madara, the First Hokage, Kushina, the 4** **th** **Hokage, Obito, and Madara again just to be killed off by some hormonal teenager in a training accident**!"

"Sakura-chan's the only one for me." Naruto affirmed. "But, you might be right. Perhaps, perhaps it is time I moved on. If the Teme makes her happy then that should be enough for me. Her happiness is more important than mine." Naruto said with a small smile.

" **Whatever you say boy**. **But I still say you're a fool though**." Kurama grumbled before switching subjects. " **At any rate's your arms healed, so if you want to try your stupid course again I'll heal you. Just make sure you don't zone out again, if I die then it had better be for something worthwhile and not because of your hormone induced thoughts**."

"As if I'd ever die before becoming Hokage." Naruto replied in a more upbeat voice as he formed an all to familiar hand sign.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

 **Meanwhile at the training ground 10 entrance.**

Tenten idly walked towards her favorite training ground, a kunai spinning in her right hand as she walked. She wore her typical outfit under her zipped Chunin vest with several scrolls attached to her back, 2 on her waist, and her kunai and shuriken holsters strapped to her right leg.

Training ground 10 had always been the preferred training location of Team Gai and even though the team had gone their separate ways with Neji gone, Gai hospitalized indefinitely, and Lee…doing whatever Lee does she still felt a strong bond with the place she spent most of her Genin and early Chunin years.

She occasionally wondered if that's why she always came here despite the other grounds being much closer. She finally decided that it was because when she was here, she could almost pretend that their squad was still together and alright. That Gai and Lee were still running around the village and creating awkward sunsets when they would passionately hug each other for no earthly reason while her and Neji honed their skills and pretended not to know the other two. That she could expect the 4 to meet up at the same time 5 days a week for practice and a "speech of youth". Looking back, she deeply missed those days, back when everyone was together. Back when Neji was alive.

Of everything that had happened in her life after the war, Neji's death had been the hardest for her to accept. He was the closest thing she had to a best friend, and the only one of her squad ,besides herself, that she believed sane. Even so as the weeks and months passed after the war she had accepted and finally managed to move on. He didn't sacrifice himself for her to wallow in self-pity she finally realized; especially when Gai-Sensei, Lee, and the rest of the village now relied on her for support.

The war had been devastating for everyone, especially the Leaf Village. With so many talented and experienced ninja dead, missing, or forced to retire due to injuries sustained in the short but bloody conflict, she had suddenly found herself, along with most of the other remaining "rookies" among the top 15% of ninja in terms of sheer combat experience.

This meant that the most challenging missions were reserved for her, and she was called upon to lead squads far more often than she personally preferred. She had even heard an unofficial rumor that Lord Sixth was considering allowing her to take the Jonin Exam soon which, if true, would only mean she needed to refine her skills even further if she hoped to make it in these peaceful but still trying times.

That's why she made it a tradition to continue coming to the Training Grounds at least 3 times a week, unless a mission prevented her from doing so, to practice and learn new ways to utilize her weapons.

More than a few ninja's, both allied and enemy, had made fun of her reliance on such weapons rather than ninjutsu in the past but over the years she had earned the respect of the former and most of the lather either didn't survive their fight or now knew better than to underestimate her a second time. And she was determined that it stayed that way.

With these thoughts in mind she continued walking to her traditional spot only to stop halfway there when she kept hearing kunai and shuriken clashing. Usually she wouldn't think much of it as this was a training ground so hearing ninja practicing or sparring was expected; however, this sounded like an entire army was fighting.

" _What's going on_?" She mentally questioned as she moved towards the sounds.

As she moved closer she began to hear the noises more clearly, more specifically the thudding noises of seemingly dozens of weapons hitting the tree's and the ground in an area up ahead with even more hitting each passing moment. This caused her to begin moving far more cautiously as she made sure not to be hit by a stray weapon should one veer into her path.

Eventually she came to the edge of one of the many paths through the forest and was met with an unbelievable sight. There, running through a hail of shuriken and kunai, was a blond-haired man armed with only a single kunai.

" _Obviously, he's a ninja_." Tenten thought as she watched the man effortlessly dodge the weapons and deflected the few he couldn't.

" _His speeds amazing_." She marveled. " _It's like he's not even trying_."

Between the barrage of weapons and only the man's back being visible to her, she tried but couldn't make out who he was.

What little she could identify was it appeared to be a young man with short blond hair, he wore a dark blue shirt that was covered by a Chunin vest sporting what looked like an orange whirlpool symbol on the back, not unlike most chunin vest save for the color, but also one on the sleeve of his shirt. The rest of his outfit consisted of a pair of dark blue pants and sandals. She could barely make out a weapons pouch attached to his left leg as he seemingly finished the course.

" _Just who is this guy_." Tenten thought as she watched the man stretch for a moment and turn back towards her.

She didn't know if it was curiosity or something more that kept her there, but for some reason she couldn't take her eyes off him as he calmly walked back to where, she guessed, he had started the course.

" _No way_." She thought in disbelief as the man made his way back, his features began to come into focus. Another minute or so and tiny whisker marks could be seen leaving no doubt who the mysterious man was. " _Is that…Naruto_?!"

She continued to watch as Naruto finally reached his starting point, and in an instant shot back down the road only to be met with another barrage of kunai and shuriken. Tenten watched in further amazement as the continually weaved, deflected, and avoided the projectiles.

She knew she shouldn't be surprised. Naruto had for basically saved the world, so seeing him dodge simple weapons shouldn't have been that impressive. Especially given what she'd seen of his fight with the traitor Obito and Madara.

" _Still I can't help but be impressed that he_ -." Tenten's thought were caught off as she thought she spotted an opening in his defenses. She continued watching, her expert eyes analyzing his every movement only to confirm what she saw a few seconds later.

" _He's leaving two points open_." She confirmed, a small smile gracing her lips. " _One near the back-left shoulder blade and one between on his side between the 2_ _nd_ _and 3_ _rd_ _ribs_."

The openings were small, in fact unless you were a master of projectile weapons and knew where to look you'd likely not even notice but to Tenten they might as well have been the size of Konoha.

" _If I threw a pair of Shuriken just right, I could make them bounce off each other and hit those spots_." She idly thought as she reached into her holster, as an odd excitement began coursing through her veins. " _Let's see what you've got Naruto_."

She waited in complete silence for several minutes until he finished his run and came back for another try. She watched as he began to sprint and just as he was beginning to dodge the weapons thrown at him she made her move.

She effortlessly threw the dual weapons at him only for them to go off course and hit each other behind him, the sound of their clash drowned out by those of his kunai. However, this had been Tenten's plan as the weapons bounced off one another and altered their course right to where the blond ninja was open.

Tenten watched with excitement as the weapons closed in on her target, waiting and expecting to see how the unsuspecting man would evade her attack.

Much to her surprise however, Naruto gave no reaction to the approaching weapons. In fact, it was like he hadn't seen them at all. A horrified feeling began to swell within her as time seemed to slow with the weapons still on target, it wasn't until they had almost hit their mark did she finally scream.

"Naruto! Behind you!" Tenten yelled as loud as she could only to watch Naruto instantly turn to see the oncoming weapons.

She watched as his eyes widened and quickly jumped while turning to block the weapons only for him to leave the other side of him defenseless. Tenten's expression darkened even further as she could only watch several of his own kunai, which had been thrown earlier, stab the man. His seemingly limp body, being carried by his momentum, falling deftly into the brush just out of the young girls view.

" _No_!" Tenten mentally screamed as she quickly ran from her spot to where Naruto's body fell. " _What was I thinking_!?" She reprimanded. " _Oh please be alright_."

"Naruto!" Tenten yelled as she finally reached the brush expecting to find a severely wounded, if not deceased ninja. However, to her astonishment and confusion she found neither, in fact she couldn't even find a body at all. Instead all she found was several kunai laying close to one another.

" _But where_ -?" She mentally questioned while continuing to look through the bush. " _Where is he_?"

"Whew that was a close one huh?"

Despite her years of experience, Tenten could barely contain her surprised yelp or the apparent shock on her face as she quickly turned towards the voice's owner.

There Naruto stood only a few feet in front of her but also several above her, his feet easily standing on the large branch of an even larger tree.

"Naruto, you're alright!" She exclaimed running up to the blond, who jumped down to meet her, and resisting the urge to hug him yelled. "I thought I killed you!"

"Nah but it was a close one though." Naruto said in a nonchalant tone. "I just had to turn around and block the Shuriken to give me enough time to substitute with one of my clones. "

"Clones?" Tenten asked

"Yep, I've been making Shadow clones and hiding them in the tree's to throw these weapons at me." Naruto further explained.

" _So that's what happene_ d?" Tenten realized. " _That's why I couldn't find a body, the clone must've dissipated the moment it hit the ground_."

" _But that can't be right_." Tenten continued to think thought as the blond looked calmly at her. " _He managed a substitution despite being taken completely off guard? I never even saw him make a hand sign."_

"But that's not important right now." Naruto said in a slightly more serious tone, effectively snapping Tenten out of her thoughts, only to become one of excitement. "Where did you throw those Shuriken at? It completely got through my defenses."

"I targeted your back left shoulder blade and your side." Tenten immediately replied, his excitement not bothering her in the least after dealing with it in Lee and Gai-Sensei for years on end. "I saw how you tried to block only the attacks aiming for your vitals with your kunai, and you focused on dodging the rest. I figured that if I targeted non-vital areas that were neither in your field of vision nor coming at you from the front or sides they may get through."

"That's awesome Tenten!" Naruto affirmed. "I never would've thought of that."

"Well, I never thought it'd actually work!" She assured, a faint blush appearing at the praise. "I never wanted to actually hurt you." Her smile widened a few moments later as an idea popped into her head. "How about we train together today?" She offered. "I could help you find some more weaknesses if you want."

"That'd be great!" Naruto eagerly accepted before giving a confused look. "But are you sure it won't hurt your training."

Tenten shook her head. "I actually haven't even started yet." She explained. "Besides you'll make a way better target than the training dummy's I'm used to, not to mention I won't have to worry about holding back against you like I would if I trained with anyone else."

"Alright, let's do it." Naruto agreed as he began to explain how his clones were positioned, and Tenten began explaining what she would do.

Several hours passed as the two continued their training, they occasionally broke to give each other pointers and occasionally told exciting or hilarious tales from their careers. Eventually, long after night had fallen, both decided they had, had enough for one day.

With darkness long since descended on the village by the time they returned, the streets were nearly empty as Naruto continued to tell Tenten a story of the first real time Team Seven tried to look underneath Kakashi's mask.

"And after that we finally had, had enough. We just all yelled and pleaded with him to take the mask off just once." Naruto excitingly told with a smile as the duo walked.

"What did he say?" Tenten asked with a smile of her own, her mind imagining a much younger Naruto, Sakura, and even Sasuke trying to pull one over on the current Hokage. She'd broken down with laughter several times already in the story over how he always seemed to keep that piece of fabric on always.

"He pretended not to know what we were talking about at first, but eventually told us he'd take it off." Naruto said in between snickers.

"Well." Tenten pressed.

"He made a big deal of showing off as he slowly went for his mask. Then right when he pulled it down he yelled." Naruto said as he and Tenten stopped walking so he could mimic Kakashi pulling down his mask. "It's another mask!"

Tenten started laughing at Naruto, who said the line with his best Kakashi impersonation. "You mean all that time…he had another mask on?" She asked between breaths.

"Yep Sensei always was 10 steps ahead of us back then, even today I still don't know what he really looks like." Naruto replied as he placed his arms behind his head and gazed at Hokage monument in the distance. The sixth head in construction but still a way from being finished. "Shikamaru even told me he's planning on having the darn thing carved into his face for the monument."

"You know." Tenten said as she stood beside Naruto and gazed at the monument. "Now that you mention it Gai-sensei once told us that despite knowing Lord Hokage since they were students in the academy, that he'd never once seen him without a mask on. Makes you wonder what he really is hiding, doesn't it?"

"Puffy lips." Naruto said out of nowhere causing Tenten to laugh, his eyes never once leaving the monument.

"Buck teeth." She quickly replied after catching her breath as both ninja turned to face each other.

"Or a mole!" They both said simultaneously, causing them both to laugh for several seconds.

"Well this looks like where I get off." She said as the laughter died down and they had resumed their trek for a few more minutes. "I live just down the block from here." She said pointing to the street on the right.

"Then your pretty close to me." Naruto said as he pointed down the street they were currently on. I just moved to an apartment a couple blocks from here."

"Well, it's been fun." Tenten said as both ninja moved to look at one another.

"Yeah it has." Naruto agreed with a tender smile. "We need to do it again sometime."

"Definitely." She agreed, as a strange warm feeling began building in her stomach.

As Naruto turned to leave he quickly stopped and glanced back at the brown-haired girl still looking at him. "You know…" He began only to stop momentarily after seeing her gaze before speaking again. "I have to help Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei with some paperwork and lessons tomorrow, but I was planning on training again the day after." He continued explaining before asking her. "Do you want to join me?"

"Join you?" Tenten asked almost in a daze, her mind seemed a bit sluggish and for the life of her she couldn't understand why.

"Yeah." Naruto answered. "You see, well, Sakura-Chan's always busy at the hospital these days and doesn't have time to train like she used to and Teme is still restricted from doing any of that stuff so I don't really have anyone to train with right now." Naruto's smile widened. "I had almost forgotten how much more exciting it is to train with someone rather than all by myself. So what do you say?"

"Y-yeah." Tenten replied before finally shaking off the fog in her brain. "I should be free that day. How about we meet here at 2pm? We can grab something to eat and head straight for the training grounds."

"Sounds good." Naruto said as he looked at Tenten for another second before turning around walking down the street. As he walked off he gave a backwards wave and yelled. "See you then Tenten-chan."

As Naruto walked away towards his apartment, Tenten hadn't even realized she had been staring at his retreating form until he was almost out of sight.

Shaking her head slowly she continued to watch him while silently wondering what was going on with her. As she finally turned to head home one distinct and utterly random thought continued replaying in her head.

"Has Naruto's shoulders…always been that broad?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 **Outside of Naruto's Apartment**

" **What was that about**?" Kurama finally asked as Naruto turned the corner to where his apartment was located.

"What do you mean?" He questioned in reply.

" **You kept staring at that girl so long I had to make sure your body hadn't frozen**." Kurama half joked before adding. " **Was there something wrong**?"

"No." Naruto easily replied as he finally reached his new apartment and took out his keys. "It's just…" He said trailing off.

" **Just what**?" The demon fox asked.

"She has beautiful eyes."

END CHAPTER

AUTHORS NOTE

Well that's it for this chapter. Now before I start talking and making excuses about why I haven't' updated my other 2 Naruto stories in a few months and have basically dropped off the face of the Earth till now. I just wanted to ask everyone a question. When I originally thought of this story I meant for it to be a one shot. My original plan was for it to follow the same route as "Perhaps" and "Avenged" in that it would be a pairing story only without as much angst or bloodshed; however, as I wrote it became something I feel I could make a legit story out of (at least for a few chapters) which is why it ended the way it did. My question to you, the wonderful readers of the world, is would you like me to make a story out of it or make leave it as is. I'm torn on it and could really use your feedback so please review and PM what you think.

As for my other works in progress: "Naruto: Legend of Naruto Namikaze" and "Naruto: The Plot" I had to take another break on them until recently due to school and finals. I had intended to upload my already completed chapters of "The Plot" during this time only to find out that the next chapter had either been deleted or moved from my computer somehow. I spent 2 weeks trying to find those files to no avail. I still have an earlier draft of the chapter and have backed up the other pre-written chapters so it doesn't happen again so all I need to do is summon the will to re-write the chapter and we're good to go. As for Naruto: LoNN, the next chapter is about halfway written and I'll finish the rest up as soon as I can.

As always Read, Review, but above all enjoy.

Guaridan's Blade- OUT!


	2. Chapter 2

**PRE-AUTHOR'S NOTES**

 **Hello everyone, did you miss me? Cause I certainly missed all of you. Several months ago, I released this story, and asked all of you (my wonderful readers of the world) if you'd like to see this (former) one shot become an actual story and I'll admit the sheer number of response shocked me. I've always been a huge fan of feedback and ya'll gave it in spades in the form of reviews, messages, favorites, and follows. So because of all of you, you're all awesome by the way, I've decided to make this an actual story. I promise to do my best to give ya'll a story that, I hope, each and every one of you will enjoy reading!**

The Following Evening

Hokage's office

"Done." Naruto grumbled as he finished writing on a piece of paper only to have it snatched away; much to his annoyance.

"Come on Shikamaru, do you really have to do that every time?" The blond headed shinobi complained from behind the Hokage's desk, thick stacks of paperwork to his left and right.

"I know it's troublesome but Lord Hokage ordered me to review everything you did." Shikamaru tiredly explained while swiftly reviewing the piece of paper." Just because you're the one doing the work doesn't mean we're off the hook if you mess up." The Nara calmly finished, placing the paper on the stack to Naruto's right indicating it was complete.

"At least let me do these requisition forms in peace." Naruto pleaded raising his hands in frustration. "What harm could I do with those?"

The paperwork was bad enough, never mind the fact that he wasn't allowed to use his clones to help him or that Shikamaru made him redo the entire page if even one letter seemed out of place.

"Last time I did that you got Torture and Interrogation's requisition mixed up with the form from Kabuto's Orphanage." Shikamaru calmly reminded while leaning back against the far wall.

"Why do you have to keep bringing that up?" Naruto whined, taking another piece of paper from the stack to his left and began to fill it out. "Ibiki even told me he appreciated the children's toys they got, said it brightened things up."

"Yeah but Kabuto wasn't as excited about the weapons and instruments of torture we sent him, he even said the next time he might even use a few of them." Shikamaru countered. "So, I'm reviewing everything. No buts."

"Ah Fine!" Naruto yelled dramatically. "But I still don't see why Kakashi-sensei's making me do this. He promised he'd help train me to be the next Hokage but all he's done lately is make me do paperwork while he goes off doing…whatever it is Kakashi-sensei does."

"One thing I've learned about being his advisor Naruto, there's more to do around here then we would've ever expected." Shikamaru said. "It's a real drag but running our village is even more troublesome because of its size. It requires a lot of work."

"Your telling me." Naruto replied with a tired sigh as he finally finished the form. "Done." He said only to have it swiftly snatched away again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"I can't tell you what an honor it is for you to visit Lord Hokage." Iruka greeted with a polite bow just outside his classroom.

"Come on Iruka stop being so formal." Kakashi said while motioning his hands in a placating manner. "As far as I'm concerned I'm still just Kakashi."

"Still what brings you this way?" Iruka questioned. "We've already released all the students for the day."

"All of them?" Kakashi asked with a raised brow.

"Well…All but one." Iruka said in understanding.

"I'd like to see him." Kakashi politely requested before quickly adding. "Quietly."

Iruka nodded and silently moved to his classroom door and motioned for Kakashi to peek inside. The Kage moved behind the instructor, gazed into the classroom, and spotted no less than 6 Naruto's, all shadow clones, studying different textbooks and talking amongst themselves.

"So he's still going at it strong I see." Kakashi murmured just loud enough for Iruka to hear as he moved away from the door. "How much has he learned?"

"It's incredible really." Iruka bragged with mixed pride and excitement. "He's devoted himself in ways I've never seen before, he's here nearly every day or at least several of his clones are. They each learn, talk and give each other advice and when they disperse Naruto has full knowledge of all they learned."

"He's advancing that quickly?" Kakashi asked, he was more than a bit shocked that the amount of information the clones sent him upon dispersal didn't overwhelm the kids mind.

" _But then again what can be more shocking than Naruto Uzumaki_." He thought to himself as Iruka answered.

"He really is." Iruka assured. "He's already finishing our most advanced material." Iruka explained with pride. "I was worried receiving so much information would hurt him at first, but he's taken it in stride. I know I told you when I started teaching him 6 months ago that he'd need at least 2 years but at the rate he's going he'll be done in a month; two at the most."

"It truly is a jutsu only he could master." Kakashi said to himself as he felt his own sense of pride in his former student soar.

"Lord Hokage?" Iruka questioned as Kakashi suddenly turned to leave.

"Thank you for your help Iruka." Kakashi said as he gave a backwards wave. "You've given me a lot to think about."

As Kakashi made his way outside the school he couldn't help but notice the fast setting sun in the distance.

" _It's this late in the evening already_?" Kakashi questioned to himself as he stared into the sunset. " _Time really does fly when your busy doing work for the good of the village_."

Sighing to himself, Kakashi quickly determined his quickest route back to the office. " _I'd better go relieve Naruto, he's likely killing himself over that work I left him_." He thought to himself while beginning a beeline to the office; however, just as soon as his march began it quickly stopped as he changed directions. " _Of course, taking the longer route around the village would allow me to mingle with the public which is also one of the core duties a Hokage must fulfill_."

 _Besides, I'd hate to rob our future Hokage of any training that would help him fulfill his duties. This is for the good of the village after all._ Kakashi mentally reasoned with a masked grin as he greeted and talked to passerby's in the streets.

Those people would later swear that they'd never seen the Hokage so happy.

(4 hours later)

"Done, it's all finally done." Naruto said exhaustingly as he collapsed on the desk.

"Yep, looks like that's it for today." Shikamaru agreed in a bored tone as he reviewed the last piece of paper and placed it on the now oversized stack of paperwork on the floor just to the right of the desk.

"First thing I'm doing after becoming Hokage is banning paperwork." Naruto grumbled not moving his head off the desk. "It's a bigger threat than Akatsuki, Madara, and instant ramen combined."

"It was troublesome." Shikamaru agreed as he stifled a yawn with his hand and checked the clock on the far wall. "Looks like it's just past midnight."

"I'd better-"The Nara began only to be interrupted by the door opening, as he turned around he saw the familiar red and white robes of the person who actually owned the desk Naruto had collapsed on.

"Lord Hokage." He greeted smoothly as Naruto's head shot up and glared at the man in the doorway.

"Yo." Kakashi flippantly replied to his most trusted advisor and flashed a covered grin at his seemingly enraged student.

"Don't yo me you masked pervert!" Naruto said with renewed energy. "Where've you been for the last 16 hours?"

"Now Naruto I thought of all people you would respect the large amount of work expected of a Hokage." Kakashi replied in a mockingly kind tone.

"For the last 16 hours?" Naruto questioned

"Well no, not really. You see on my way back." Kakashi trailed off while scratching the side of his face, with his eyes closed.

"Well?" Naruto impatiently asked.

"I simply got lost on the path of life." Kakashi answered causing Naruto to fall sideways unto the floor.

"5 years. You've used that same excuse for 5 years." Naruto said from the floor.

"I like to stick to the classics." Kakashi replied as he moved forward and looked to Shikamaru while Naruto recovered. "So what's the situation."

"Naruto did all the day's paperwork correctly, including half of tomorrow's paperwork that you requested be done today." Shikamaru replied causing Naruto to fall back down again with both his eyes and mouth gaping.

"Yo-you made me do tomorrow's paperwork to!?" Naruto questioned to himself in a voice that sounded more horrified than angry. "Y-you bast-"

"Good, good." Kakashi replied to Shikamaru while cutting off Naruto's rant. Turning his attention back towards the blond, he gave another closed eye smile. "We're all so lucky that the village will one day be in your capable hands, right Naruto?"

Whatever insults Naruto thought of hurling at the masked ninja quickly died in his throat as the hidden meaning behind his words. Calming down Naruto crossed his arms and replied evenly. "I had a lot of help."

"Even so you did great. Why don't you head on home and relax? Next time I promise to show some of the other duties to being Hokage. No paperwork." Kakashi promised as Naruto nodded.

"Alright but you owe me dinner at Ichiraku Ramen for this." Naruto said as he began to walk out. "Night Sensei, Shkamaru." He finished as he walked out the door and closed it behind him.

"Well that was surprising." Shikamaru said to himself as he looked at the door and back at Kakashi who had begun to move to his desk.

Kakashi walked to his desk, sat down quietly and waited a few minutes to ensure Naruto had left before turning to Shikamaru who stood just in front of the desk.

"How did he really do?" The masked nin asked, all traces of humor fading away.

"He completed the work." Shikamaru said simply with a shrug. "Aside from a little troublesome whining about me checking everything he did it without incident."

"That's what I thought." Kakashi said as he placed a hand under his chin in deep thought. "I can remember a time when he wouldn't sit still for a second and spent more time complaining about doing something like paperwork than actually doing it. He's really calmed down a lot since I met him"

"He's matured, there's no doubt about that." Shikamaru agreed. "But he's still the same unpredictable knuckle headed ninja I remember from the academy."

"That he is." Kakashi agreed with a laugh. "But between this and what Iruka said I think it's time I escalated my plans a bit."

"You mean-" Shikamaru asked, his eyes widening in surprise.

"I've decided to allow him to take the Jonin exams." Kaksahi interrupted. "They're scheduled to be held in 2 months, right? Plenty of time for him to finish his studies and prepare."

"Hm, it's bothersome." Shikamaru jokingly complained with a smile. "he'll be unbearable once he hears about it."

"I suppose that's what it means to sacrifice for the greater good." Kakashi joked back as he turned around and looked out his oversized window.

 _Minato-Sensei, Lady Kushina you'd be proud of him._

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 **THE FOLLWING DAY**

TenTen POV

TenTen woke up with a yawn and quick stretch followed by checking all her weapons, which took much longer than most nins did due to the sheer amount she used, and got dressed. After that she quickly ate breakfast and rushed out the door in the direction of the shopping district.

" _I promised Naruto I'd meet him at Ichiraku Ramen at 2pm so I should get everything else taken care of by then_." Tenten thought to herself as she grabbed a few items from several of the different stores lined up on either side of the main road, paid for them, and headed for the mountain holding the Kage faces.

" _Still it's not like I have a lot to do today, and yesterday was mostly uneventful_." She thought as she ran along the buildings with a bag of groceries and quickly ran up the mountain with chakra induced speed. As she finally made it to the top of the 5th Hokages stone face she made her way to the surrounding forest and then towards a small waterfall several dozen yards within.

As she made it to the waterfall she knelt near the bank of the water and picked several of the small ,wild yellow flowers growing around there, flowers that literally grew all over the village; however, she had only ever come here because that's where he had always gotten them.

" _Besides_ " Tenten reasoned. " _It's not like it's as much trouble as it was when I was a genin_."

After ensuring she had gotten enough of the special flower she smiled in satisfaction and quickly made her way back down the mountain and towards the hospital's special recovery ward where many of the disabled ninja resided.

"Tenten! Thank goodness it's you!" A brown-haired nurse yelled much to the other's shock.

"Uh hello AimEEE!" Tenten yelled as the nurse practically began dragging her towards her sensei's room.

"I'm so glad you're here. Mr. Gai has barricaded himself in his room and claimed that something terrible has happened to him. We tried to send in doctors but he won't let anyone in saying it's too horrible to watch. I've sent for Lady Tsunade and Lady Haruno but maybe he'll at least open the door for you so we can diagnose him before they arrive." The nurse explained in a frantic pace as she continued to drag Tenten until they reached a room on the far side of the facility.

"Ow." Tenten complained as she stretched the released arm and then double checked her items to make sure nothing had been lost along the way. She gave a sigh of relief when she saw everything was accounted for only to notice the several pensive looking doctors and nurses either looking at her or the doorway leading to her sensei's room.

"Um…hi?" Tenten said lamely to the doctors before the brown-haired nurse grabbed her again.

"Please Tenten get him to open the door so we can help him!"

"Don't worry Aime." Tenten said with a smile. "I think I know what's wrong with Sensei and I should be able to help him make a full recovery."

"R-really?" The nurse asked. "But he-"

"It's a recurring illness of his or at least he thinks it is." Tenten said as she made her way to the door. "You know how…eccentric Gai-Sensei can be sometimes. Just tell Sakura and Lady Tsunade that I've got if covered."

"Y-yes Ma'am." Aime said as she took off while TenTen knocked on Gai's door.

"Go away!" A male voice replied. "Run fast or bear witness to the unbearable horror and disfiguration that has fallen upon me."

"Hey Gai-Sensei it's me TenTen!" Tenten yelled as she knocked on the door again. "Open up I came to visit you."

"No Tenten!" Gai called out dramatically. "I couldn't bear for you to see me this way. I'd rather you remember me for the youthful man I was instead of this, this monster."

"And I brought flowers." Tenten continued completely ignoring her sensei's antics.

"F-flowers?' Came Gai's timid reply.

"Yep your favorite yellow one's. You know from the waterfall." Tenten said before several loud noises could be heard from the other side and the door slightly opened enough for Gai's hand to reach out.

"Please Tenten, l-let me see." Gai emotionally said. "Let me know that it's really true."

" _Here comes the sunsets"_ Tenten thought with a smirk as she handed him the bag filled with groceries and flowers.

As the door quickly shut she heard water running and other loud noises come from the room. "I also got you those other things you wanted." Tenten yelled over the loud noise before the door burst wide open revealing Might Gai in a wheelchair and smile.

"Finally, my youthfulness is restored!" Might Gai said dramatically as he rolled up to Tenten and held her hands in his as a sunset began to form in the background out of nowhere. "And it's all because of you my youthful student."

"Uh…no problem." Tenten said with closed eyes, an awkward smile and a sweatdrop running alongside her head. This continued for several seconds as she tried to not imagine the several not so amused doctors and nurses glaring holes through her back.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"So what brings you here at this time my youthful student. Usually I wouldn't be expecting you for another few hours." Gai asked as both he and Tenten sat at across from each other at a table inside the cafeteria.

"Well I knew you'd be running out of your flowers for your shampoo soon and I kind of had to be somewhere later today." Tenten replied innocently

"Ah has my rival Kakashi given you a mission to test your prowess?" Gai asked. "No one but the youthfulness of my students could possibly handle such dangers."

"It's not a mission." Tenten answered. "I'm just meeting someone for a late lunch and a bit of training later and wanted to make sure I had enough time to visit you."

"I'd would expect no less. What kind of training do you and Lee have in mind?" Gai asked placing a hand under his jaw and smiling big. "Perhaps you'll try to beat my time on the special training technique that myself and Kakashi perfected during our return from saving the Kazekage?"

"First off I'd never do that. Ever." Tenten explained with a frown. It was hard enough keeping the memory of a semi-comatose Kakashi piggy back riding on Gai's back repressed as it was. "Second, it isn't Lee I'm training with its Naruto."

"Naruto?" Gai questioned.

"Yes Sensei." Tenten said in mild annoyance. "We're eating at Ichiraku at 2 and then we're going to team ten's old training ground for some weapons training."

"I see." Gai said darkly. "It all makes sense to me now."

"Sensei?" Tenten's annoyance quickly switched to worry. "What's wrong."

"You suddenly eating lunch with him, training by yourselves, and making sure nothing interrupts you." Gai said quietly as Tenten leaned closer in to try and hear him. "Your dating Naruto!" Gai yelled loudly.

"W-what!" Tenten asked as her concern quickly morphed into confusion and finally anger as she tried not to fall backward from the shock and unexpected noise.

"It only makes sense that the student of my eternal rival Kakashi and that of my own youthful students would attract the other." Gai said with a hand under his jaw and closed eyes, as if in deep thought. "I'd expect nothing less fro- ah!" He screamed as he was knocked into the table by a familiar fist.

"I am not dating him." Tenten said slowly after hitting her teacher upside the head. "Got it?"

"Y-yes."

"Argh." Tenten said aggravated while looking down with closed eyes. "I can't believe I actually thought something was wrong with you. I should know better by now." She scolded herself and then looked towards the left wall, her eyes quickly widening as she saw it was already a quarter till 2.

" _There's no way that's right_." Tenten thought in a panic as she stood up. " _It can't already be that late_."

"You're leaving already?" Gai asked in surprise while rubbing the top of his head.

"Sorry Sensei." Tenten apologized before explaining. "I didn't realize what time it was, but I'll be back again real soon."

"Alright then my youthful student, I'll eagerly await your next visit to see how much you've grown." Gai said with his typical smirk only to lose it as he felt something warm against his neck.

"Thanks sensei." Tenten said as she broke her quick hug and starting walking away looking back and waving at her sensei as she did so. "I'll be back soon, and don't worry the doctors and nurses anymore ok?"

As he watched his student disappear in the crowd of shinobi and patients Gai smiled a warm smile.

" _You've all done great things_." Gai thought with memories of his old team surfacing again. " _I couldn't be prouder of all of you._ "

As Gai prepared to return to his room for his daily 10,000 handstand pushups he was stopped by a disturbing thought.

" _If Tenten isn't dating Naruto…could Naruto be trying to date Tenten?_ " Gai idly thought for a moment as his train of thought escalated.

Gai himself would admit that his two remaining students had grown into fine, strong, and youthful individuals and Tenten was no exception. He practically considered her his daughter but also had no doubt that most of the single shinobi, and likely some of the married ones to, would do anything to be with her.

Naruto, Gai reasoned, would be out of his mind to try and not date his student. Why else would he take her out to eat and offer to train with her by themselves in one of the most isolated training grounds in the Village?

His poor student, whose youthful innocence had no doubt blinded her to his true intentions, must not have realized that Naruto had been trained by Gai's own eternal rival Kakashi Hatake, who was also known as one of the biggest pervs in the Hidden Leaf. Not to mention that he was also trained by Master Jiraiya the Perverted sage himself…and she would be alone with their student; the person who no doubt knew every trick in the book when it came to seduction. The things he might do to her…his daughter!

" _No, no_." Gai thought as he began to move to his room. " _Naruto's youthful presence brightens the village, there's no way he'd ever do that_."

" _But how can I know for sure_?" Gai mentally asked himself as he turned back around just in time to see a Chunin leaving the cafeteria. He quickly recognized him as a 15-year-old that came to visit his grandfather every few weeks.

" _That's it!_ "

"Bye Grandpa!" The chunin yelled as he walked away while looking and waving at an elderly man at a far table. The young boy wished he could've stayed longer but knew that he'd be spending the weekend in Ibiki's tender care if his commander caught him slipping in late for wall duty again.

As the boy neared the door an invisible force harshly pulled down on his vest; taking his entire body along for the ride.

.

"Wh-whoa!" The boy exclaimed but was quickly silenced as he found himself staring into the eyes of a very big man in a very small wheelchair.

"Are you leaving?" The man said darkly.

"Y-yes sir." The boy stuttered out not knowing what else to do.

"I want you to find someone and bring them here." The man said seriously.

"S-sir?" The boy questioned timidly. "I have guard duty in- " 

"Never mind about that!" The man exclaimed. "This is a matter of life and death!"

"Y-yes sir." The boy timidly screamed.

"Now then listen up, do this as quickly as you can."

(5 minutes later)

"This is crazy." The young boy thought as he rushed out the door. "The commander's going to kill me for this."

" _But if I don't find this guy that phyco in recovery's gonna kill me to_." The boy thought as his face paled considerably. " _Why didn't I just take that escort mission in Rain country_!?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 **NAURTO's POV**

Naruto walked towards the Ichiraku Ramen stand with his arms behind his head, looking towards the sky. It had been another beautiful day in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and he had enjoyed doing absolutely nothing since almost being paper worked to death the day before.

" _At least now I can finally get some training in._ " He thought as he walked into his favorite restaurant. " _Not to mention a great meal_."

"Hey Old Man!" Naruto called out to the man behind the counter, his back to Naruto as he prepared some ramen.

"Naruto!" The man exclaimed while turning to face his greatest customer, a big smile gracing his face. "It's good to see you, come on in. What'll it be today? Miso and pork?"

"Actually, I'm waiting on somebody before I order anything." Naruto explained as he looked at the clock mounted on the wall behind the counter. "She should be here in a minute."

"Oh." "The Old Man said as he turned back around and started washing some dishes. "I'm sure Sakura won't mind you ordering for her."

"It's not for Sakura-chan." Naruto said in a smaller tone, his eyes falling to the countertop.

" **Don't tell me your still on that crap?** **Get over it alrea** dy!" Kurama yelled in Naruto's mind.

"It isn't?" Tenichi said picking his head up for a moment in surprise at his customer's change in mood. Deciding to switch topics he began to wash his dishes again albeit a little slower. "Then who is it?"

"Tenten." Naruto said, his expression still dark.

"That girl from Might Gai's group?" Tenichi questioned. "I've seen them in here a few times. Nice girl."

"Yeah. After this we're going to do some training." He said as he watched the door from behind the counter open.

"Dad! We'll need to order some more pork before the end of the week if we still plan on-" Ayame called out only to spot Naruto with a grim expression.

"Hey Naruto! How's our number one customer doing?" She asked happily

"Pretty good Ayame." Naruto said

"I'm over here dear." Tenichi replied before asking. "How much should we order?"

Ayame's response was to grab her father's hand and pull him into the back-supply room. "How bout I show you dad." She said happily. "We'll be right back Naruto."

Naruto barely noticed the door shutting and then glanced at the clock again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 **Ichiraku Supply Room**

"Ayame" Tenichi called out as his daughter released him after the door to the small room closed. "Couldn't you have just told me how much to order? I think I left the water running."

'Never mind that dad." Ayame said in a serious tone. "What's wrong with Naruto?"

"Er-I don't know." Tenichi replied. "He just mentioned that he was meeting a girl here and-"

"A girl?" Ayame questioned. "Who?"

"One of Might Gai's old team, Tenten, I think the one who uses all those weapons." Tenichi explained. "Well anyway I asked who it was and his mood suddenly switched."

Ayame replied by nodding her head. "I see I see." Before suddenly shouting "That's it." As she hit her left hand with her fisted right.

"Er, what is dear." Tenichi questioned as he watched his daughter's smirk widen.

"Naruto's on a date!"

"A date?" Tenichi asked. "Naruto?"

"It explains everything!" Ayame said with hearts in her eyes. "He must've asked that girl out but poor Naruto must be embarrassed or nervous, it's his first date after all so when you brought it up it must've upset him."

"I remember when his parents first came here to eat." Tenichi explained thinking back, ever since the village had heard of Naruto's linage he couldn't help but see Minato every time the blond walked in.

"And now it's our job to make sure Naruto has the best first date he could ask for." Ayame said determined. "Nothing less will do for our best customer!"

"Right!" Tenichi agreed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

" **Are you better yet**?" Kurama growled in an annoyed tone after spending the last few minutes talking with his idiotic host.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just got caught off guard. "Naruto replied in a more normal tone. "It still hurts ya know?"

" **Grrr, no I don't know** " Kurama responded in a slow threatening tone. " **What I do know is that your supposed to be meeting this girl in a few minutes and I want to sleep before becoming your personal medic again; so stop trying to ruin everything by acting like a child whose dropped their candy**."

"Sakura-chan isn't-"Naruto began.

" **I don't care**!" Kurama finally screamed. " **Either date this girl or one of the dozens of fan girls that keep stalking you and move on.** " As Kurama finished his rant his eyes widened, and a wicked smile appeared. " _ **This girl**_." He thought to himself menacingly.

"Your right." Naruto finally said. "I'm fine now ok, it won't happen again." He said in a determined tone.

" **Trust me kid I believe you**." Kurama said as Naruto saw Tenichi and Ayame resurface from the storage room. " **Let's just wait for this beautiful eyed girl to show up**."

Before Naruto could question Kurama further, or ask why Ayame kept eyeing him he heard a familiar voice from behind. "Hey sorry I'm late." Tenten said opening the curtains to the store and spotting Naruto. "I had to visit Gai-sensei and lost track of time."

"No problem." Naruto said as she set down beside him. "I wanted to wait for you before ordering so there's no rush." He finished with one of his trademark smiles.

"Thanks." Tenten said with a smile of her own before turning to the menu and then to Tenichi. "I'll have a miso with pork please."

"Me to!" Naruto called out as Tenichi quickly turned around and began making the dishes.

"2 miso with Pork on the double." Tenichi called out. "It'll be the best ones you've ever tasted!"

"So Tenten, I haven't seen you in a while." Ayame said leaning over the counter at the weapons user. "What have you been up to?"

"Just training, missions, visiting Sensei and some research." Tenten said nonchalantly.

"What kind of research would that be?" Ayame asked innocently as Naruto watched the two women silently.

"Just trying to get better with seals." Tenten explained. "Hopefully I'll be able to carry more with me without being buried in scrolls."

" _Got you_." Ayame thought as she turned towards Naruto. "Hey Naruto, aren't you a sealing expert now?"

"Uh, I wouldn't exactly call myself an expert.' Naruto explained while scratching the side of his face. "I just have some notes that my dad and pervy sage left behind and I've studying those for the last couple months."

"Wait you have their notes?" Tenten suddenly asked turning around and looking at Naruto with sparkles in her eyes.

"Well yeah, I got most of the Pervy sage's things after Pein attacked the village and Kakashi-Sensei released my dad's things to me after he took power shortly after the war."

"Naruto the 4th Hokage and Lord jiraiya were two of the greatest seals experts in Leaf Village history." Tenten explained with excitement. "Everything they knew must be in those notes."

"Most of it." Naruto said. "But I only just really started getting into the advanced parts of it, so there's still a lot I haven't even looked at."

"Do you think." Tenten said a bit shyly. "Whenever you have some time, you could let me come over and look at them."

"Sure, why not." Naruto said happily. "You might be able to help me learn some things about them."

"Naruto you're the best!" Tenten exclaimed. "Now I don't have to bother reading those old texts in the library anymore."

"It's no problem." Naruto said with a smile. "I didn't even know you liked seals." He explained.

"Ever since I was in the academy." Tenten said.

"Really?" Naruto asked. "Why's that."

"Well my dream's always been to be like Lady Tsunade so I tried to be a medical ninja at first." Tenten explained. "But I kept botching up even the most basic test to even begin to qualify to become a medical ninja, but then one of my instructors showed me how sealing worked, and I thought how awesome it was. I mean, back then it was like magic." She said while looking as if she was dreaming. "Being able to instantly store something massive into a small object and then bring it out at a moment's notice. I had also loved weapons even before then but with sealing I could bring out dozens, hundreds, even thousands more weapons than I ever could without them."

"That's awesome!" Naruto said. "I guess I just thought all you liked were weapons. I never thought that seals played such a role in it."

"What about you?" Tenten asked before adding teasingly. "What made the most unpredictable knuckleheaded ninja want to learn about some boring old seals?"

"Well." Naruto began as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. "At first, I didn't really care for them, much less understand them. I've always been more interested in learning new jutsu than things like sealing."

"So what happened?" She asked.

"Pervy sage I guess." Naruto explained as he remembered the times he had with his godfather. "When I went on that training trip with him he kept making me learn about them, said that since he was a renowned sealer and I'm his student I should learn everything there was to know, especially since I had to keep the 9 tails seal going in case something bad happened. After the Pervy Sage passed away and I found out who my dad was I kept practicing and learning more about it to honor them." He turned and smiled at the brown-haired girl. "So I guess you can say that whenever I study seals I just feel like my dad and the Pervy Sage are somehow not so far away."

"Naruto." Tenten quietly said as she wiped one of her eyes and smiled a warm smile. As Ayame watched on. "That's beautiful"

" _Mission accomplished_." The ramen waitress thought as she turned and walked to her dad.

"How's it coming." She asked him quietly enough that the 2 shinobi wouldn't hear.

"just finished up." He said about to turn around only to be stopped by his daughter.

"Take 10 more minutes." She quietly said.

"B-but the Ramen's done." Tenichi began.

"No but's dad. A key to a successful date is conversation and I didn't just get them started on one just so you could interrupt them with food." She said angrily.

"But it'll get cold." Tenichi said sadly.

"Then make some more." Ayame said with a dangerous glint in her eye. "What's more important, Naruto's happiness or 2 bowls of ramen?"

Upon hearing this Tenichi sighed. "Yes dear."

Ayame turned back around she smiled warmly to herself as she saw the two young adults talking excitingly about some of their funnier missions. Everything was going as planned.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 **1 1/2 hours later**

"I can't eat anymore." Tenten said placing her 3rd bowl of ramen on the counter. "Thanks, Tenichi-san, that really was the best ramen I've ever had."

"Anytime my dear, I enjoyed making it for you." The old man said with a smile.

"She's right old man, your ramen's always the best but this was great!" Naruto exclaimed finishing his 12th bowl. "Nothing in the world can beat this." He said only to look towards Tenten after hearing her laughing.

"N-naruto." She said in between laughs. "Y-your face."

"Huh?" Naruto questioned as he felt his face, feeling something long and thin he grabbed it and brought it to his face. It only took him a moment to realize that after downing his last bowl a piece of noodle had somehow fallen on his face.

"I guess I got a bit carried away." Naruto embarrassedly said while rubbing a hand behind his head while Tenten kept laughing.

"I'm glad you both enjoyed it." Ayame said with a smile as she walked over and held out a piece of paper towards Naruto. "Here's your ticket."

"Shouldn't there be two of them?" Tenten asked first while Naruto slowly reached for the piece of paper.

"Naruto told us he'd be paying for both of you." Ayame said as Naruto looked at the piece of paper, his eyes widening and face going slightly pale.

"Really Naruto?" Tenten asked. "I don't mind paying for mine."

"N-no problem Tenten. I-I got it covered." Naruto said with a more nervous tone as he slowly reached for his wallet and pulled out enough money to cover it.

"Er-well thanks Naruto." The weapon user said taken off guard by the blond-haired ninja's actions. "I appreciate it."

"D-don't mention it." He said with the same nervous tone as Ayame gave him his change. "Let's head on to the training grounds, I'm ready to start training."

"Sounds good." She agreed.

"Bye you two." Ayame said as the two-shinobi walked out. "Thanks for coming by!"

"And come again!" Tenichi added as he walked to the counter to grab the dishes.

"That was nice of Naruto to pay for that girl's meal, guess Lord Hokage and Master Jirayia taught him something about dating after all." The older man stated as he stacked the dishes together and handed them to his daughter.

"Looks like it." His daughter replied, took the dishes and walked to the sink to begin washing them.

"Hmm." The older man said with his arms on his waist before beginning to clean off the counter, only to find that Naruto had left his receipt on his chair.

" _Guess they didn't need it_." He thought as he picked it up and began to look at it.

At first glance, it appeared to be the standard bill that they gave everyone; however, as he got to the bottom of the slip he noticed 2 small sentences marked in red ink.

"Pay in full or you'll be banned from Ichiraku Ramen." The old man read slowly. "PS Tell her and I'll kill you."

Glancing at his daughter's back as she washed dishes and back to the note he sighed. " _Sometimes she reminds me to much of her mother._ "

END CHAPTER

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

 **So that concludes our second chapter. Originally, I had it planned to be quite a bit longer but decided to cut it into 2 different chapters so that I could give you all a Happy New Year's Present. The main goal of this chapter was to give just a brief view of Naruto and Tenten's personal lives before they meet up and to, hopefully, humanize them a bit better while keeping them in character. This chapter will also be important for setting up the next few chapters to come, which will also help grow Naruto and Tenten's relationship as well. So, what did all of you think? Did you like it? Hate it? Please let me know either in reviews or PM's. ALL FEEDBACK IS WELCOME!**

 **P.S. I'd also like to give a special thanks to each and every one of you who reviewed, messaged, favorited, or followed this story. Seriously you guys are the best!**

 **HAPPY NEW YEARS!**

 **GUARDIAN'S BLADE- OUT!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the long wait everyone! Author notes are at the end and the chapters just below. Enjoy!**

 **Training Ground 10**

"So, what do you want to do first?" Tenten asked, spinning a kunai in her right hand as they arrived in one of the large clearings within the training ground 10.

"Why don't we warm up with some dodging practice." Naruto suggested with his typical smile. "You throw, I dodge and then tell me what you think."

"Sounds simple enough" Tenten said with a smirk while grabbing 2 scrolls from her waist. "Just don't expect me to go easy on you."

"I'd be disappointed if you-"Naruto began but stopped as he watched the weapon's master jump high in the air, unfurled her scrolls and began to spin rapidly. The unfurled scrolls seemingly wrapping around her to the point her body became barely visible.

"Whoa." He mumbled with widened eyes, it'd been years since he'd seen her technique, but he didn't remember it being this grand. However, he had very little time to dwell on it as dozens of kunai and shuriken began raining down from above.

" _How is she throwing so many at once_?" Naruto mentally questioned while dodging the incoming weapons and drawing 2 of his own kunai to help block the assault. Even more impressive than the sheer number of weapons being thrown at him, was that each one seemed to be perfectly aimed towards him. " _She shouldn't even have time to aim_!"

" **It must be from training**." Kurama replied before yelling out. " **Boy behind you**!"

"Wha-"Naruto yelled in shock as many of the kunai and shuriken he just dodged suddenly changed course and were flying back at him; effectively trapping him between the barrage above and those aiming at his back.

" _Dammit_!" He thought with little time to spare and jumped left, blocking several of the approaching weapons as he did so, and then made a beeline towards the outskirts of the clearing with shocking speed. The maneuver got him out of Tenten's trap and allowed him to avoid being hit on both sides by the deadly weapons. Even so, his speedy exit didn't allow him to come out completely unscathed, evidenced by the cuts on his arms

" _Is it some kind of puppet master jutsu_?" Naruto mentally questioned as he continued dodging weapons while Kurama began healing his arms.

" **Possibly**." Kurama replied. " **I can't tell for sure with these raining on top of us**."

"So she unseals the weapons from places along her scroll, aims, and throws them at a rapid pace. Then she also has a way of controlling weapons that she's already thrown without sacrificing her accuracy or speed" He noted stealing a few glances at the weapon mistresses with the corner of his eye as he was finally forced to dodge again and change course. "With that scroll twisting around her I can't see anything, if I could just see where she's aiming at dodging would be a lot easier."

" **She's starting to slow down**." Kurama noted. " **She must be running low on weapons**."

"Or it's a trap." Naruto thought as he fought off the last of the thrown weapons and made sure no more were coming from his blind spots. Breathing deeply, he turned back around just in time to see Tenten fall back to the ground and land on her feet in a crouched position with her scrolls falling harmlessly around her. Standing back up, she shot Naruto a grin and placed a hand on her hip.

"So what did you think?" Tenten asked with a grin.

"That was…intense." Naruto responded with a smile of his own. "Definitely a lot more difficult than having shadow clones hurl weapons at me all day."

"Glad you enjoyed it." Tenten responded with a smile. "I noticed you got hit a few times by some of my Kunai."

"Only minor cuts, Kurama should have them healed in no time." Naruto responded before adding. "It really took me by surprise when I had to start watching out for weapons I'd already dodged."

"I knew you'd enjoy that." Tenten said. "Before the war I tried to find a way to attach wire threads to my weapons which let me guide them better without messing up my aim, but then I met this nice Kunoichi from the Sand who showed me how to quickly make Chakra thread to better control my weapons. It took a lot of practice, and I'm still trying to really get the hang of it but It's a lot easier to handle and faster to attach and re-attach than regular wire would be. It also lets me rip them off the ground and fling them back ag people on top of guiding them. Not to mention there almost invisible, and I don't have to worry about having wires everywhere."

"So you unseal the weapons, attach the wires, and then throw them?" Naruto questioned as Tenten nodded. "But you were so fast."

"I've practiced my technique so it's just second nature, but I'm still pretty new using Chrakra strings." Tenten explained "I still can't guide anything heavier than a kunai and even then, I still can only guide so many at once, after that I either have to use wire or forget about guiding them."

"That's pretty cool!" Naruto nodded in understanding with a smile. "You really took me by surprise with it."

"But enough about that." Tenten said with a glint in her eye and an even wider smile. "Now that we've finished up this scroll we can start the real fun."

"Fun?" Naruto questioned back.

"Those were only my practice weapons." Tenten explained with a smile as she took out a scroll from her pouch, made a hand sign, and unsealed several more, larger scrolls. "Since you did so well dodging those I figured we could get serious." She said motioning to the unsealed scrolls. "These are the weapons I actually use on missions and are a whole lot deadlier than the standard shuriken and kunai I practice with"

"G-great" Naruto said with a quiet gulp and sweat drop running down his face.

" _Those things were only for practice_?" He inwardly questioned in disbelief. " _There must've been at least 400 weapons in that last scrolll._ "

" **There's likely at least twice that in these**." Kurama affirmed with a nod. " **They might also be poisoned, she said deadlier, so stay alert and be on your guard for anything. If you get poisoned it'll take longer to heal you than a simple flesh wound.** "

" _Right_ " Naruto thought in response.

" **You should also take off your vest and shirt**."

"What!" The blond-haired ninja nearly questioned loudly.

"Is something wrong Naruto?" Tenten asked with a curious face as she got her scrolls ready.

"N-no, nothing." He said lamely

"…ok" She said with a shrug and a smile. "Sorry it's taking so long, I'm trying to get everything ready now rather than later. Just another minute or two."

"R-right." He said as he watched her go back to work.

"What's the big idea fox?" Naruto demanded under his breath.

" **I just meant you should take off your shirt and vest before it gets torn to shreds**." Kurama stated with a grin. " **I can heal your scratches but I'm not going to sew your cloths back together, your sleeves already look bad enough**."

"R-right. Good idea." The blond ninja responded with uncertainty as he walked towards a fallen log that he hoped would be out of range of their training.

" **What did you think I meant**?" The fox asked curiously with a hidden smile as Naruto took off his vest and set it on the log.

" _Nothing_." Naruto answered quickly, feeling a slight heat on his face.

" **Pervert**." Kurama laughed.

" _Shut it fox_." Naruto growled lowly as he mentally berated the 9 tails and reached for the bottom of his shirt. As he pulled the fabric from his torso and over his head he made sure to place it neatly on top of his vest. He then quickly turned around to check on Tenten only to see her staring at him intently from their training site.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 **TENTEN'S POV**

 **3 minutes prior**

" _This is great_!" Tenten thought with excitement as she unsealed a few of her scrolls that housed her better weapons. " _I can't believe I can actually use these now_!"

She could only think of a handful of people who could handle her training scroll the way Naruto had. In fact out of everyone she'd trained with over the years, and there had been a few especially during the shinobi's alliance's war preparations, only 4-5 fared well enough that she didn't have to pull her punches or stop altogether and Naruto had definitely made the cut.

" _He moves with such confidence_." Tenten thought as she finished preparing another scroll. " _Even when I upped the ante by using my threads, he literally wasn't down a second. He thinks fast and moves even faster than that! Even Lee can't compare to this!"_

Now that she thought of it she'd only seen one person move the almost the same way, the same purposed determination that made training with him so fun. Sadly, that person had died during the war.

" _In fact_." She thought as she placed a hand on one scroll. " _The last time I used this scroll during a training session was against Neji…he_ "

"What!" She heard Naruto nearly scream.

Her eyes widened and quickly looked to the blond, not knowing what to expect, but all she could see was a very pensive and embarrassed looking Naruto.

"Is something wrong Naruto?" She questioned while trying to look busy with her scrolls instead of daydreaming.

"N-no, nothing." He said lamely

"…ok" She said with a shrug and a reassuring smile. "Sorry it's taking so long, I'm trying to get everything ready now rather than later. Just another minute or two."

"R-right" He said as Tenten looked back down from her work.

" _Focus on the now and not the past_." Tenten inwardly reminded herself as she finished her preparations. Her best friend may be gone but she'll always have her old friends and new ones to help fill the void.

" _Besides_ " She thought trying to renew her excitement _." If Naruto can do as well as Neji could then this is going to be so much fun!_ "

" _I wonder if he'd mind being my regular training partner?"_ Tenten questioned as she finally finished the last scroll she intended to use today.

" _He did say he trained a lot and had nobody to practice with_. _Plus, we could help each other with sealing to. It's perfect!_ " She thought standing up and spotting Naruto a few yards away next to the tree line. " _I'll go ahead and ask him and_ -"

Tenten's thoughts died in her head and her eyes widened as she watched the blond-haired ninja look towards her. His sweat from the previous exercise began reflecting off his toned muscles, making it almost glow as he causally walked back towards her.

" _Whoa_." Is all she could think as he came to a stop in front of her. She'd seen dozens of men without their shirts, all for either training or social events, but she'd never reacted like this before. Though to be honest most of them weren't as toned as Naruto was either.

"Sorry." He apologized while rubbing the back of his head with a hand. "I didn't want to ruin my shirt so I thought this'll be easier."

Tenten nearly jumped at Naruto's words and quickly looked away trying to hide her blush. "N-no problem. That's probably a good idea."

"So where should we start?" The blond ninja asked completely unaware of her embarrassment.

"J-just go back to where we started at I guess." She said still looking away.

"Got it!" The blond said happily as he walked back to where he was last time.

" _What the hell's wrong with me_?" She scolded herself with narrowed eyes, a shade of red barely viable on her face. " _I've seen hundreds of guys without shirts and I've never acted like that_! _I'm a ninja not some…some school girl!_ "

" _Still though, I can see why he's so strong_." She admitted, her blush deepening slightly. " _I got a decent view in the forest last time but it was nothing like this._ "

"Gah! What am I thinking?" She asked shaking her head " _I'm better than this!_ ". She'd worked hard, trained hard, had witnessed war firsthand and all he did was remove his shirt to make her freeze. How could she hope to be as respected and strong as Tsunade-sama if she's that easily taken off guard?

" _It won't happen again_." She assured and felt her determination swell. " _I've worked to hard to gain everyone's respect to lose it like that._ "

She wouldn't back down, she wouldn't freeze, and she'd make sure to give it her all no matter what. She'd accept nothing less.

With these thoughts in mind she reached down and grabbed one of her scrolls and held it in front of her face and starred directly at the blond who had reached his position and returned her stare with a smirk.

"Ready Naruto?" She asked confidently, her past embarrassment dissipating.

"You bet." Came the blond's own confident response.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 **NARUTO'S POV**

" **Something's different about her**." Kurama said with a low growl. " **Her form is much more rigid than last time. Be on your guard** "

" _Yeah_." Naruto agreed. " _She wasn't kidding about not playing around anymore_."

"Ready Naruto?" Tenten asked, her voice streaming confidence.

"You bet." He responded taking a defensive stance.

(Several hours later)

" _How can she keep this up_?" Naruto inwardly questioned with bated breath, continually dodging the weapons hurled at him and stealing short glances at the weapon mistress before the next attack came. " _She's relentless_."

" **Just keep dodging runt**!" Came Kurama's furious reply. " **And stop getting cut so much**!"

" _I'm not doing it on purpose_." He defended, trying to ignore the pain of the dozen or so cuts on his torso, side, and arms that were currently healing. " _There's just so many weapons, and there's no way to dodge or deflect them all!_ "

The two ninjas had already moved on from there second training exercise, which consisted of him dodging more weapons, only the weapons now included scythes, swords, explosive notes, and more. In fact, she threw so many things at him in that hour and a half that he could've sworn he even dodged a kitchen sink at one point. As soon as that let up he suggested they try something else instead of basic dodging practice.

He'd thought of, or more correctly Kurama had suggested, a type of game in which the goal was simple. Tenten would run around throwing weapons at him and the only way for him to win the game was to catch her. According to the fox this would allow them both to practice their strategizing as he would have to figure out how to get close to the weapon mistress without dying and Tenten could practice her accuracy on a moving target while also being forced to move around. The only real rules were that he couldn't use any of his transformations, which he wasn't going to use anyway, and that he couldn't use any of his more destructive jutsu.

After all, the fox had reasoned, if this is to improve your reflex's then it wouldn't make sense to use those techniques.

When he talked to Tenten about it, she seemed more than receptive to the idea and agreed to try it out.

When the fox first suggested it, halfway through their previous training exercise, he figured it would be to easy to catch Tenten off guard but decided to humor the annoying tailed beast anyway; however, they'd been at this for roughly 2 hours and he'd made very little progress against the Chunin since they started.

His best plan, so far, failed miserably when he summoned 30 shadow clones to charge her directly, and when she cut them all down from a distance he created even more clones to hit her in her blind spots using the smoke screen as a cover to get close. This ended poorly, and he had to quickly substitute himself out of the cloud or else he would've met the same fate as his clones. The main reason for the failure was because he had made the mistake of underestimating Tenten's skill in using her weapons in melee combat; the fact that he now had the memory of being stabbed by Tenten, several times made sure wouldn't make the same mistake again.

After his substitution to get away, Tenten used the dissipating smokescreen to her advantage and forced him back even further via barrage of kunai, how she could see him through the smoke he'd never know.

" _At least she's not using her scrolls anymore_." He thought as he dodged more weapons. For the last few minutes most of the weapons thrown have either been from her pouch, the ground, or from her connecting those blasted strings to them. Of course, it was always possible that she was saving them in case he got to close _._

" **Just be careful if you charge forward again.** " Kurama reminded. " **Your carelessness is why I'm having to waste so much chakra healing you right now**."

As Naruto dodged more weapons he continued to steal glimpses at the weapon mistress. He was amazed she could do so much damage with only traditional weapons, in fact he was awed by her sheer skill. Still whether due to her being tired or perhaps his own desperation he thought he finally saw an opening in his defenses.

Dodging more weapons, he decided to capitalize on this opening and quickly thought of a plan to catch the weapon mistress once and for all.

" _Here it goes_." He thought as he jumped into he air and weaved an all too familiar hand sign.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 **TenTen's POV**

Tenten took a deep breath after throwing more weapons towards her blond-haired sparring mate. She was honestly having the time of her life right now but was beginning to get winded.

" _Naruto's stamina is incredible_ " She thought in awe as he continued to try and reach her, only for her to force him back each time. She'd long lost count of how many clones he'd sent at her, and with each wave he'd shown her just how unpredictable he could be.

With each wave he sent at her he would seemingly employ a different strategy, many she guessed were created on the fly, and while some fell flat on their faces others proved almost too much for her to handle. Moreover, despite each of his plans failing thus far and the massive amounts of chakra and clones wasted trying to get her the blond shinobi showed no signs of stopping.

She guessed that's why she was having so much fun right now. He was strong, so she didn't have to hold back, while also unpredictable which kept her on her toes and very interested in what he'd do next, and finally he never gave up which she loved because it meant he'd keep trying no matter what.

" _Between his endurance, healing abilities, and sheer tenacity it's no wonder he did so much during the war_!" Tenten thought in amazement as their sparring match entered what would likely be a very short lull as he stared at her from several yards away.

Just as she was beginning to catch her breath the blond shinobi made his move, he quickly ran towards her and leapt into the air weaving an all too familiar hand sign. Not a moment after he did so, several dozen clones appeared and jumped towards her from the front, a tactic that Tenten had already seen several times.

" _What are you planning Naruto_?" Tenten thought as she quickly grabbed any kunai she could find on the ground, having long since decided against using anymore scrolls as she didn't want to stay stationary anymore, and some from her nearly depleted pouch to dispatch the waves of clones trying to reach her.

As her weapons struck the attacking clones, a thick smokescreen began to develop in front of the weapon mistress, as expected, and she awaited what the blond would do next.

" _Last time he tried this, he used the frontal attack as a distraction to get his clones around me_." Tenten thought as her eyes cut to her left and right, and she subconsciously took a sidestep closer to a sword she had unsealed earlier to defend herself during that attack.

Just as the suspense seemed to much for her to bear, several glints made themselves known as they exited the smokescreen and headed straight towards the female shinobi. Tenten's eyes widened slightly as she registered the threat and dodged or blocked the incoming weapons.

' _This is new'_ She thought as she kept dodging the incoming weapons with ease, " _Still this can't be it"_ She reasoned, dodging more of the incoming weapons.

While she could easily tell Naruto was no slouch when it came to weapons, he certainly wasn't as good as she was in that regard. In fact many of the kunai thrown at her ended up missing her entirely, and landed around her harmlessly; however, the sheer number of weapons thrown kept her attention focused on dodging them rather than countering.

Luckily, before the barrage could do anything more than make her move a few feet, the smokescreen from earlier dispersed and revealed 5 Naruto's running towards her.

" _My turn."_ She thought as she threw the kunai in her hand, taking out one of the charging attackers, and quickly picked up another weapon from the ground to do the same.

It only took her half a moment to aim and prepare to throw the weapon at Naruto's clone; however, before she could release the weapon it disappeared in a large puff of smoke.

"Wha-!" Tenten yelled in shock as she quickly released the weapon, and jumped back as a Naruto clone appeared in its place.

Realization hit Tenten head on as the new clone, which was less than a few feet away lunged at her.

" _He transformed his clones into weapons!?_ " She thought alarmed as she barely had time to pull a kunai from her pouch and stab the clone into oblivion.

As she killed the clone, she further realized just how dire her current situation was. For the last hour she'd mainly been using the weapons on the ground as her main source of defense, but if all that weapons Naruto had thrown at her were transformed clones then he'd just turned her entire arsenal into a minefield.

" _I can't risk picking up more weapons_." She thought as she turned towards the wooded area to her right and made a beeline for it, hoping to reach it before his remaining clones caught up to her.

" _None of his weapons went in here_." She reasoned as she entered the wooded area and started going through running through the tree's. " _So all I have to worry about is setting a trap for the clones behind me, after that I'll just have to rely on the scrolls and weapons I have left."_

As she ran through the tree's, she set her mind to thinking of a trap to catch the pursuing clones off guard, only to hear a noise to her left.

Turning as fast as she could, Tenten threw her knife directly into the chest of a Naruto clone only for another to suddenly lunge at her from the smoke.

"Argh" Tenten yelled in a panic as she flung a kunai in desperation, hitting the clone in chest, dispersing it but only for another to lunge through the smoke and tackle the weapon mistress to the ground.

Knowing she was caught, Tenten closed her eyes expecting to hit the ground hard but was surprised when the only thing she felt hit the ground was her legs and lower body while her head never made impact.

"Huh" She questioned as she opened her eyes, only for them to widen at what she saw.

There, literally just inches in front of her face, was Naruto's whose eyes stared directly into hers as if peering into her very soul. He'd practically landed on top of her in a crouched position with his legs to the left and right of hers, while his left arm landing to the left of her head and his right holding up the back of her head.

" _He must've caught me before my head hit the ground_." She managed to think through the haze overtaking her.

"Caught you." He gruffly stated, his voice seemingly far deeper than usual.

A small voice in the back to Tenten's mind told her she needed to respond, congratulate him for beating her, or tell him how much fun she had training, but that voice was almost completely lost in the haze she quickly found herself in staring into those deep blue orbs.

As she stared into his eyes she suddenly found her breath jagged, her mouth felt dry, and a weird feeling swelling within her stomach. Then, almost without her noticing, she raised a single hand and touched it against his chest, her skin tingling at the contact.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 **Naruto's POV**

Naruto didn't know what was going on or what he was even doing anymore.

His plan to catch Tenten had been simple, he sent in several clones as a diversion to produce a smokescreen, so she couldn't see him create more clones, most of which transformed into weapons, and were thrown by his other clones.

While she was busy dodging those, he'd used that same smokescreen to sneak into the woods and make his way closer to where she'd likely enter at.

Then, just like he'd hoped, she'd ran into the woods to lose his clones after realizing he'd booby trapped the clearing and then all he had to do was create a clone to make her use any weapon she may've had in her hand and then catch her.

He'd tackled her to the ground as gently as he could and managed to even stop her head from hitting the ground in the process. Then, as if suddenly something in him shifted, he found himself staring down at her as she opened her eyes.

He then found himself lost in her cool brown eyes, as he bore into them and noticed how her lips seemed to part slightly as she stared back at him.

"Caught you." Is all he managed to say in response as he felt something primal in him begin to stir, something that even the fox residing within him couldn't hope to match.

Just then time began to slow as he continued to stare into her until suddenly he felt something electrify his torso. Looking down he saw, and felt, her hand touch lightly against his chest.

It was in that single moment that he almost thought he heard someone yelling at him, but his mind failed to either understand nor process the noise; instead choosing to re-focus his attention to the girl below him as it seemed her face grew even closer to his own.

Then, almost without warning, time seemed to return to normal as Naruto felt a sharp pain in his side and his entire body launched several yards away.

"Ah!" He yelled, neither expecting nor prepared for the strong attack as his body skid to a stop against a tree.

Looking up back to where he was from he saw no other than Rock Lee, who wore his chunin vest over his green spandex suit, glaring at him with Tenten still laying on the ground a few feet behind him.

" _Ah the hell?_ " Naruto thought as he got up from his sitting position against the ground.

" **It's about time!** " Kurama roared. " **Pay attention!** "

" _Why didn't you give me a warning fox_?' Naruto asked through the pain in his side, his senses quickly returning to him.

" **I did!** " The fox roared in response. " **You just stayed there staring at the girl**!"

"Right sorry.' Naruto replied, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. " _I'm not sure what just happened_."

" **Whatever**." The fox gruffly stated. ' **You have 2 cracked ribs, I'm healing them now**."

" _Thanks_.' Naruto replied and then re-focused his attention back on Lee.

"What's the big idea Lee?" Naruto asked his friend who glared daggers at him in response. "That really hurt."

"Be glad I only cracked a few ribs Naruto Uzumaki." Lee replied harshly. "Your unyouthfulness shall be punished by my fist for what you've done.'

"What do you mean what I've done?" Naruto questioned in annoyance. "I haven't done anything."

"You call taking advantage of my teammate nothing?'

"Taking advantage of-"Naruto angrily stated before realization hit him. "W-we were training!"

"I once believed you to be a youthful and honorable shinobi. "Lee said running towards him at even increasing speed. "But now I see that I must set you back on the proper path."

"Wha-"

"Leaf Hurricane!"

End Chapter

AUTHOR'S NOTES

So that concludes chapter 3 of "Weapons in Hand". Not a lot of real dialogue in this chapter, originally it was meant to go along with CH2 but I had it cut for length and time constraint reasons, but I like to think that it all worked out in the end; aside from possibly butchering Lee's character that is. Anyway, back t to the notes.

The main goal of this chapter was to show off Tenten's combat abilities, some of them, as well as Naruto and Kurama's teamwork. This chapter had a few other purposes as well, but I'll leave it at that for now. Next chapter will be a bit longer and will likely have a more slice of life style like last chapter did. It'll also do a better job of furthering Naruto and Tenten's relationship and help usher us into the final stages of the story (that's right we're basically halfway over at this point.) So, what did ya'll think of the chapter? Did you love it, hate it, indifferent? Please let me know and feel free to give suggestions and criticisms. AS ALWAYS, ALL FEEDBACK IS WELCOME!

Guardian's Blade- OUT!

P.S. Thank you all for you're reviews and PM's last chapter. You don't know how much all of it meant to me, from the praise, criticisms, and suggestions. I enjoyed every minute of it. Ya'll are awesome!


End file.
